Four days last week had record low temperatures and temperatures barely got above freezing each day. But, on the bright side, the sun was out last week. Even though the days were short, the skies were clear and we were treated to a rare stretch of sunlight in December.

Because we're so far north and nearing the winter solstice, the sun doesn't get more than 20° high in the sky anyway. And unfortunately, this week it's cloudy again, and as the afternoon sun nears the horizon, the clouds make it get darker much earlier than it did last week. In fact, with the clouds dimming the sunlight, for a significant part of the day it looks as if the sun has barely even risen.

Fortunately, the winter solstice is in less than a week at which point the days will begin to lengthen and the sun will get higher in the sky. While there will still be quite a few more cold, cloudy days this winter, more sunlight will be very welcome.